A municipality (Georgian: მუნიციპალიტეტი, romanized:munitsip'alit'et'i) is a subdivision of Georgia, consisting of a settlement or a group of settlements (community, თემი, temi), which enjoy local self-government. A total of 69 municipalities are registered as of January 2019.[1] Five municipalities are entirely located in breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and are effectively not governed by Tbilisi. The remaining 64 are divided over five self-governing cities (ქალაქი, kalaki) and 59 self-governing communities. Municipalities can be subdivided into administrative units, referred to as a community (თემი, temi).
Background
The municipalities were first established in 2006. Most of them were successors to the earlier subdivisions, known as raioni (რაიონი), "districts". In addition, new municipalities were formed to govern those settlements in the disputed entities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia that at the time remained under Georgia's control. After the Russo-Georgian War of 2008, Georgia treats these municipalities as parts of its occupied territories. The former districts not under Georgia's effective sovereignty at the moment of the local government reform of 2006 were not transformed into municipalities. Rather, the laws of Georgia include a notion that the final mode of subdivision and system of local self-government should be established after the restoration of the state jurisdiction over the occupied territories.[2][3] Each municipality is divided into administrative units (ადმინისტრაციული ერთეული), which can comprise one or several settlements.[4]
^ abcdefghijTerritories in Abkhazia or South Ossetia outside of Georgia's control and defined by Georgia as "occupied territories".
^ abcdefghijklmOfficial statistics are not available for the territories not under Georgia's control (Abkhazia and South Ossetia).
^ abcdTemporary administrative-territorial unit, entirely located in South Ossetia or Abkhazia outside of Georgia's control. Defined by Georgia as "occupied territories". Municipal body formally in Tbilisi.
^ abcdefghMunicipalities which include at least some settlements in South Ossetia outside of Georgia's control that are defined by Georgia as "occupied territories".
^ abcOfficial statistics available only for those parts of the municipalities that are controlled by Georgia.